LONDON —— World record holder and the many-time world and Olympic champion Usain Bolt was one of the notable athletes who featured in the England against the Soccer Aid World XI football match at the London Stadium on Sunday.
The match was staged as part of a charity event to raise money for the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). Read more: Bolt supports Sha’Carri Richardson, hopes she’ll learn from mistake
Bolt, who retired from track and field after the 2017 season, was part of the Soccer Aid World XI team that played to an entertaining 2-2 draw with England in regulation time before winning the game on penalties.
The Jamaican and now father of three, made his return to the London Stadium as captain of the World XI team, but decided before the start of the match to place the armband on Ukraine’s legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko.
Bolt featured in a few close chances for the World XI side, including a rifling left-footed shot that forced David James to make a brilliant save in the 18th minute.
He, however, wasn’t able to score find the net, while former Chelsea, Arsenal and Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Čech made a few important saves in the contest for the World XI, which kept the crowd buzzing.
Noah Beck scored the game’s opening goal from the penalty spot for Soccer Aid World XI before Mark Wright netted the equalizer for England to make it 1-1 from six yards as well.
Fans were able to watch the likes of Martin Compston, Gary Neville, Mo Gilligan and Tom Grennan all in action, along with Alex Brooker, who is the first physically disabled Soccer Aid player.
Former Manchester United, Real Madrid and England midfielder David Beckham was among the standouts watch from the stands this weekend, but he came down to present the silver plate to Bolt after his team won the Soccer Aid for a sixth time and the fourth consecutive title.
Bolt was making his return to the London Stadium ten years after repeating as the Olympic sprint double champion at the London 2012 Games.
The 35-year-old is an eight-time Olympic champion and 11 world champion while he owns the world records in both the 100m and 200m dashes with respective times of 9.58 seconds (100m) and 19.19 seconds (200m), set at the Berlin World Championships in 2009.
He set the Olympic records for both the sprints at London 2012 when he posted times of 9.63 and 19.32.
Bolt retired from the sport with 53 races under 10 seconds with legal wind reading.
